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NCTA Concerned with EAS Item

December 13, 2016–NCTA expressed concerns in an ex parte filing yesterday on an Emergency Alert System item that the FCC plans to consider at its Dec. 15 meeting. In the filing in PS docket 15-94, which reported on meetings with FCC officials, NCTA said, “In particular, we discussed concerns with the proposed certification or self-inspection checklist requirement, false alert reporting requirement, and authentication and validation rules. We described, among other points in our filings, that cable systems pass through EAS messages on an automated basis and, as a technical matter, cannot determine if an EAS transmission that has the appropriate header codes and alert tone is an unauthorized message.

“With regard to a Further Notice, and consistent with past filings in the EAS docket, we expressed concern about any proposal to reverse well-established EAS all-channel override rules permitting force tuning in favor of imposing a mandatory selective override regime which would fundamentally alter existing cable EAS infrastructure,” the filing added. “We also briefly reviewed our comments related to issues that may be addressed in a Further Notice on the definition of ‘programmed channels’ under the EAS rules.” – Paul Kirby, paul.kirby@wolterskluwer.com